Notre Dame unveils $400 million expansion around football stadium

January 29, 2014|By Jodi S. Cohen | Tribune reporter

In an unusual and bold plan unveiled this morning, the University of Notre Dame said it will meet several athletic and academic space needs by adding three new buildings connected to its iconic football stadium.

The multi-use buildings, which will rise slightly above the stadium, will include classrooms, a career center, dining hall, event spaces, recreational sports facilities, and a digital media center — all integrated with new, premium stadium seating and club space for football fans.

The $400-million plan — the largest building project in the university’s 172-year history — will turn the area around the stadium, now used solely for about seven home football games a year, into a central place for academic and student life. The three buildings will be attached to the east, west and south sides of the stadium and will add up to 4,000 revenue-generating seats to the “The House that Rockne Built,” among the country’s most revered stadiums.

The new buildings will not obstruct the view of “Touchdown Jesus,” the mural on the Hesburgh library north of the stadium that has become one of the most recognized end zone views in college sports. But the changes could rankle some alumni who won’t be happy with a move away from tradition.

“It brings together various parts of the university in ways that we hope will bring people together and make for interesting connections between people,” said Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins. “What is important about this project is these needs were seen as separate and now we are bringing them together in a unified project.”

Jenkins said he expects construction will begin between one and two years from now, and will last about 33 months as the three buildings are constructed simultaneously. The project, approved by the university’s board of trustees at its meeting today in Rome, will be funded by private donors and bonds. Notre Dame policy requires that a certain percentage of the total cost must be in hand before breaking ground.

The plan, known as “Campus Crossroads,” will reshape the university’s physical landscape and emphasize the on-campus experience at a time when colleges and universities nationwide are testing the possibilities of online learning. Notre Dame does not plan to increase student enrollment, currently at 8,500 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students.

The university does plan, however, to add about 80 new faculty members in the areas of nanotechnology, nuclear physics, biochemistry and biomedical engineering.

Jenkins said that when school officials began considering a campus expansion, they walked from the Quad, at the center of campus, to the stadium to ensure that it could be traveled within five minutes. He said campus planners thought the area around the stadium was underused and would make an ideal location for the expansion.

“It is important to us that the campus remains a pedestrian campus,” Jenkins said. “This will retain the compactness of campus. To not use that space is a waste.”

The stadium renovations will increase seating at football games to about 84,000 by building on top of the rim of the stadium bowl. There will be several levels of indoor and outdoor club seating on the east and west sides of the stadium, a new press box, broadcast booths, and hospitality areas.

The south building will include a club and lounge that can accommodate about 350 fans during game days.

“It is such an iconic place so you touch it with great care,” said Steven Ansel, the principal designer at the project’s lead architectural firm, SLAM Collaborative in Connecticut. “But what we are doing is so exciting in terms of bringing this year-round life to the stadium. This is pushing the envelope much further than we have seen anywhere else in the country.”

The stadium renovation will include larger scoreboards but no final decisions have been made about how video will be used — a divisive issue between younger and older football fans. University officials assured loyalists that there will be no commercial signs or advertising. The current seating bowl also will not change.

The new buildings will be buff-colored brick and stone to match the original stadium, built in 1930 at a cost of $750,000 and modeled after Michigan Stadium, which also recently was renovated to add premium seating.

“People are always nervous if this will ruin this iconic football stadium,” Jenkins said. “It will make the fan experience even richer.”

Beyond the stadium renovations, the project will add classroom and student activity space.